Drive axles include a pair of axle shafts that are used to drive opposing laterally spaced wheels. Traditionally, axle shafts are fabricated from a single piece of round bar stock. The round bar stock is subjected to a forging operation that produces an axle shaft having a shaft body that transitions into a large axle shaft flange at one end. This forged axle shaft flange is to be coupled to a rotatable wheel component.
The forged axle shaft flange is defined by a large diameter, which presents many manufacturing challenges. This also results in significantly high procurement costs. Thus, there is a need for an axle shaft assembly that can be easily fabricated to overcome the challenges discussed above.